Awoniyi horror is a red flag the game must not ignore

Taiwo Awoniyi is in an induced coma because of an incident that should have never been allowed to play out.

- WILL CASTLE

The Nottingham Forest striker suffered a life-threatening abdominal injury when he collided with the post in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Leicester. It was the 88th minute, with the score level, and he had gone hell for leather trying to latch onto Anthony Elanga’s ball across for a tap-in winner – understandable, given the fact a goal at that stage could have delivered Forest a seismic three points in their push for Champions League football.

It led to Awoniyi crashing abdomen-first into the woodwork at speed as the entire City Ground winced in unison. However, his efforts were in vain. In the build-up, Elanga was offside. Light years offside. But there was no flag from assistant referee Sian Massey-Ellis, who allowed play to continue and for Awoniyi to put himself at enormous risk, for no reason.

This was not Massey-Ellis’s fault. She, along with every linesperson and referee in the Premier League, is simply following the guidance of Ifab, the governing body responsible for the laws of the game, and thus PGMOL. They’re instructed to rely on the safety net of VAR instead of making use of their officiating acumen to call the most obvious of decisions. Enter one of the worst rules in football: delaying the offside flag.